On Cruelty

So for us Orthodox Christians it's Good Friday today and it'll be Resurrection Day (Good Saturday) by the time you're reading this. In the neighborhood where I live, a new (boisterous and with many members) family has moved in, who brought a live rooster a few days ago. They slaughtered the rooster today (clearly it'll be part of Easter Sunday's feast) and though I couldn't see it, I could hear it, and it was hideous. It was cruel. It messed me up and I can't think of anything else all day, so this is what I'll write about. Not the rooster- about cruelty.

What is cruelty?

According to the dictionary, Cruelty is behaviour that deliberately causes pain or distress to people or animals.

By that definition, perhaps the family that slaughtered the rooster weren't being cruel- their goal wasn't to distress the rooster, it was to kill it. However either they were inexperienced or didn't care to make it quick enough, and deliberately brought in a live bird to kill it when there's tons they can buy off the butcher, already dead. They (and I) could hear the rooster screaming and flapping its wings and they knew they would, and they were ok with it.

Is that cruel?

Yes, yes it is. Perhaps they're a lot more sincere in their cruelty because they do the deed themselves instead of going to buy the result of someone else's cruelty, but it's cruel because they inflict it on a living being without having to. They're not starving. They're not unable to get meat otherwise. They did it "for the tradition" or whatever else was going through their minds, since they do eat store bought every other day of the year.

So yes, that is deliberate infliction of distress on an animal, directly, and it's cruel in my book.

Now, I'm not vegan. I'm vegetarian, which means I do consume non-animal rennet cheese, eggs, and dairy. The dairy industry is a horrible hell for animals. Am I being cruel for having dairy?

Yes. Yes I am.

If I buy milk, eggs, and cheese from sources that are cruel to animals, then I'm also being cruel. I try my best not to, but when I can't, then I'm being cruel and there's no sugar coating that. I strive to show with my wallet that I want farmers and companies that at least show some decency to the animals that produce my food, but that doesn't mean I get to play holier than though with my choices. I'd love a balanced, symbiotic relationship where animals are not abused and are cared for while we ethically harvest some of what they produce for our own use, but I don't kid myself that is the case right now.

What I can say is that I would never slaughter an animal to eat it when I got other options.

What about humans? (no, I wouldn't slaughter them to eat them either. :P) I mean, what about cruelty between humans? Are we doing better on that front? Hell no.

Cruelty is something that imbues human society to the point that we are accustomed to it, habituate to it really fast, and learn to overlook it, especially when it's institutionalized. How we treat animals is only a measure of how we treat each other as humans.

Making someone distressed on purpose and with impunity is a show of power and that's how it codes. Bullying and bullies inflict distress and pain because it's a show of power and superiority which unfortunately doesn't limit itself to the school microcosm. The fact that often bullying goes unchecked, or is very inadequately addressed, is also an indication of how much society tolerates and low-key reinforces such behaviors.

"Why do you care, it's only a chicken" can very easily become "why do you care, it's just the janitor". Concepts such as people being inferior and superior to each other also feed into this inherent cruelty that seems to be a kind of currency in our world. I've had experiences in the past where being kind was taken to mean "being stupid" and people were surprised when they realized that I (or my family) were not, in fact, stupid, and could metaphorically kick their ass when we find it necessary.

We're not cruel, except when we are- just like me and my dairy when I can't ethically source it, the others with the rooster, still others with bullying the kid who is "just the weirdo" or "just the poor kid" or whatever.

The big issue for me is when we just shrug and move on, rather than try to do something about it when we can. Could I have done something about the rooster? Probably not, I'm still wondering. I hate it, it haunts me. Can I do something about dairy industry animals? I think so, I'm trying. Can I do something about various forms of bullying? absolutely, I'm doing it.

But what I often hear is "that's just the way things are" and "that is the way of the world" and "you're blowing it out of proportion, it's just a …." and that… that, for me, is the penultimate form of cruelty. The acceptance of it. Sometimes, even the celebration of it.

Anyway, cruelty when it's subtle or institutional, and how your characters react to it, is an excellent way to foreshadow your villains, or set up a hero's journey for your main character(s) to go on.

Here's to less cruelty in the world, sometime soon.

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